People have been living in what is today Pakistan for hundreds
of thousands of years, although no true large-scale civilization arose until about
7000 BC when the Mehrgarh people established settlements in the region and continued
to live in the area until about 2500 BC. From this time until about 2000 BC these
people were slowly replaced by the people of the Indus Valley, which are the ancestors
of today's Indians and Punjabis.

The Indus civilization lasted for over a thousand years, but only ruled over modern
day Pakistan for a fraction of this time as the civilization
collapsed in about 1700s BC, just after they had taken the whole of modern day Pakistan.
From the time of their collapse a number of smaller civilizations came to control
the region. During this time the people of the Indus Valley settled the region further
as Hinduism was introduced to the people. This period lasted until at least 600
BC.

In about 500 BC Darius the Great came to power in what is today Iran
and his empire, the Achaemenid Empire took control over much of modern day
Pakistan. This Persian rule took root in the Indus Valley and controlled
the region until about 300 BC when Alexander the Great from Macedonia (ethnic Greek) took the region. However, this was the edge of Alexander's
kingdom since his men refused to continue on. His eastern border is roughly equivalent
to the Indus River. Even after Alexander's death the region remained under Greek
control as the Seleucid Kingdom was established by one of Alexander's generals.

Even under Greek rule though, not all of modern day
Pakistan was united as other rulers controlled various regions of the modern
day country, including the Maurya Empire, which took control of nearly all of modern
day Pakistan after negotiating a peace with the Seleucid rulers. This shift in power
also shifted religious loyalties as the ancient Greek religions were forgotten in
favor of Buddhism and a return of Hinduism. The Maurya Empire continued to grow
for some time before powerful rulers in India took power in
the east and by 185 BC the empire had collapsed.

Over the next few centuries the people were ruled over by numerous kings and kingdoms
as rulers were influenced by both Greek and
Indian cultures, creating something entirely unique from both. This shifting
from kingdom to kingdom finally came to an end when the Gupta Empire took over much
of modern day India and Pakistan; they ruled from 320 to
600 AD. The greatest contributions this empire made were architectural and cultural
as they welcomed trade and outside influences, greatly altering the culture.

The Gupta Empire was again followed by numerous successive dynasties, few of which
lasted long, before the Pala dynasty took over much of the east in the mid-700s,
while the Arabs took much of the west in about the same time. The Arabs took most
of the Indus Valley, converting most of these people to Islam, while the Pala Empire
re-established Buddhism as the religion of choice; these led to a primarily Muslim
population in the south and west and a primarily Buddhist population in the north
and east.

After the fall of these empires the country again fell under the rule of multiple
small rulers, including Turks from the north and Indians from
the east. These Indians, based in Delhi had the greatest influence on the people
as they set up trading posts and welcomed both locals and foreigners to the region
of Pakistan. This actually created the Urdu language as
it grew from the local languages with the introduction of Iranian, Turkish, Arabic,
and Indian languages.

As Indian rulers declined in power, the Timurid Dynasty entered
the region from Central Asia in the 1500s. Eventually this empire entered
India and one of its offshoots became the Islamic Mughal Empire. As they
moved east they built up numerous cities, including Lahore as they encouraged religious
tolerance, although they were Muslim.

Mughal rule in Pakistan continued until 1739 when the Afsharid
dynasty from Persia took power, creating the Durrani Empire.
However this empire didn't last long in Pakistan and soon were overthrown, although
not without wars and attempts, some successful, to regain control. By 1799 the Sikh
Empire had taken control over most of the region. Again, this rule didn't last
long as the British arrived in the 1800s and by 1849 had defeated the Sikhs, establishing
British India, which included modern day Pakistan.

Almost immediately the people of Pakistan fought
British rule and independence movements arose in the late 1800s. This led
to the creations of the Muslim League in 1906, whose initial goals were to guarantee
rights for Muslims in a territory that was overwhelmingly Hindi. Sadly this was
viewed as a threat by many Hindus and division among the people by religion began.

Soon division among the Muslims and Hindis in India was widening
as many Muslims sought immediately independence from Britain,
while many Hindus stood behind Gandhi's stance of non-violence, which required
more time and patience. This difference in methodology led to the formation of Pakistan.
However, the Muslim League was losing proponents among the Muslims as well, as the
people were divided in opinion; some people wanted independence immediately, others
supported a longer, non-violence approach, while they also argued over whether to
remain with India after independence or to become a separate nation.

By 1940 India was at war, getting involved on the side of
the Britain in World War II, and the Muslim majority
in Pakistan was slowly coming to believe that no united
nation was possible after independence. As WWII came to a close Britain let India
go as India formed one country and Pakistan (which included modern day
Bangladesh at the time) formed another country in 1947.

Unfortunately, the borders were questioned so both Punjab and Bengal were divided
among the two countries. This led to the movement of people: Hindus to
India and Muslims to Pakistan, but this came with
much violence. These areas broke out in war as trains moving from one country to
the other were at times stopped as the people were massacred on both sides. There
was also argument over the region of Kashmir, which both countries claimed, leading
to war and India eventually gaining control over the region.

In the same year, 1947 war broke out between India and
Pakistan as border disputes continued and fighting on the borders continued.
This led to great nationalism in Pakistan, which unintentionally led to excluding
the people of East Pakistan (modern day Bangladesh).

Due to all these early problems facing Pakistan in the
1950s, the military stepped in and took over the government, creating an Islamic
Republic. This chaos led to full war with India in 1965 leading
to greater military control, until 1970 when the military stepped aside to a degree
and allowed free elections. These elections showed the drastic difference between
east and west Pakistan, leading to the separation of east Pakistan, creating the
country of Bangladesh in 1971. This action was not recognized
by Pakistan at the time, but India encouraged the separation.

India's recognition of Bangladesh
also led to increased hostilities between India and Pakistan,
but also represented the return of a democracy in Pakistan. Leader, Zulfikar Bhutto
developed great changes, including a growing technology to obtain the atomic bomb,
to counteract India. The 1970s were a time of unifying the country, while also militarizing.
This culminated in 1977 when the military again took over.

Under military rule from 1977 to 1988 the military government purged numerous detractors
and restricted rights on numerous levels. This ended in 1988 when Benazir Bhutto
took power. During the 1980s and 1990s the country tried to balance between numerous
international interests, at times working with the Soviets, at other the
United States and working with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
It also was a time when relations with India again worsened
as India began undergoing nuclear bomb testing. Pakistan
responded by announcing that they had successfully create a nuclear bomb in the
late 1990s.

In 1999 military power again took control in Pakistan as
numerous politicians were exiled. In 2001, after the al Qaeda attacks on the
United States, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf supported the United
States in their quest to oust Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
The people generally disagreed with this decision and most of the Taliban and Al
Qaeda fugitives fled from Afghanistan into Pakistan.

In 2007 numerous exiled politicians, including former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
and former President Benazir Bhutto returned. This led to numerous assassination
attempts, which found themselves successful when Bhutto was killed later that year.
The following year Musharraf stepped down from office and relations with many western
countries severely diminished. This was further escalated when in 2011 the
United States entered Pakistan without their permission
to kill Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda and mastermind of the September
11, 2001 attack on the United States.

Today Pakistan remains unstable at best as politics and
personal opinions are divided on nearly every issue. Additionally, the government
and people struggle to find international allies as there seems to be little cohesiveness
on what direction the country should head.